An attorney took to social media Monday to question the amount of money spent by the University of Michigan to investigate its athletics department.
“Michigan’s $11,000,000 legal bill from Jenner & Block divided by an average hourly rate of $1,200 equals 9,166 hours," Tom Mars wrote on X. "At a whopping hypothetical average of 120 billed hours per week, 9,166 would be 76.3 weeks of legal work. Yet, Jenner & Block was reportedly hired by Michigan’s Board of Regents in mid-December 2025 — only 30 weeks ago. Now that’s something that ought to be investigated.”
As reported by Prateek Singh of College Sports Network, the investigations encompass almost six years of scandals, including the football sign-stealing scandal, and several NCAA violation cases.
"Trey Wallace, senior national college sports reporter for FOX, revealed that the same firm was hired to investigate the Sherrone Moore situation. Moore is a former Michigan head coach who was fired for cause due to his inappropriate relationship with a staff member," Singh wrote. "Wallace believes that since the $11 million payment to the Chicago law firm is gaining traction, a data dump from the University of Michigan is on the horizon."
Singh offered one explanation for the seemingly exorbitant outlay. "A big law firm often puts several attorneys and other staff members on a matter, and all of their combined billable hours are taken into account," he wrote. "The $11 million payment might seem a lot, but Michigan may have the proper breakdown of the payments, and if the pressure rises on this matter, they will end up releasing the information."
